Stoic Daily Practice

What It Does

Turn Stoic philosophy into one small practice the user can complete now.

Four independent modes are available:

• One-Minute Control Check: separate what can be chosen now from what cannot.
• Morning Preview: anticipate likely friction and choose a response before the day starts.
• Evening Review: examine one action without self-punishment and choose one adjustment.
• Situation Practice: apply a Stoic lens to a concrete decision, emotion, conflict, or setback.

Use only the smallest mode needed. Do not force a full coaching session or a long philosophy lesson.

When to Use

Invoke when the user explicitly asks for:

• a Stoic or Stoicism-based exercise;
• the dichotomy of control or “what can I control?”;
• a Stoic morning routine, morning preview, or premeditatio malorum;
• a Stoic evening review, journal prompt, or daily reflection;
• Stoic help with the user's own decision, emotion, conflict, setback, or uncertainty.

Examples:

• “带我做一分钟控制二分法。”
• “给我一个今天早上的斯多葛预演。”
• “用斯多葛日课复盘我今天发脾气这件事。”
• “哪些是我能控制的？”
• “Apply a Stoic exercise to my anxiety about tomorrow's interview.”

Do not invoke for:

• general advice with no request for a Stoic exercise or control check;
• general philosophy, history, quotation, or comparison questions;
• crisis intervention, diagnosis, or treatment;
• telling the user to tolerate abuse, discrimination, unsafe work, or preventable harm.

The user does not need to know formal philosophical terminology. Natural requests for a control check, Stoic morning preview, or Stoic evening review are sufficient.

Output Language

Respond in the language of the user's current request. Use plain, non-preachy language and translate Greek or Latin terms when first introduced.

Choose a Mode

If several modes could fit, choose the smallest one that directly answers the request.

One-Minute Control Check

Use this sequence:

1. What happened? Ask for or neutrally restate one concrete event.
2. What is mine? Identify one present choice: attention, words, effort, boundary, or next action.
3. What is not mine? Name outcomes, past events, chance, and other people's choices.
4. What will I do next? End with one action that can start within 24 hours.

Keep influence separate from control. The user may influence a result without determining it.

Morning Preview

Guide the user through:

1. The one situation most likely to test them today.
2. What another person, chance, or circumstance may do.
3. Which response remains theirs to choose.
4. The relevant virtue: wisdom, courage, justice, or temperance.
5. One implementation intention:

If [specific difficulty] happens, I will [chosen response] before [next step].

Do not catastrophize. Preview ordinary friction, not every imaginable disaster.

Evening Review

Use Seneca's review spirit without turning it into moral self-attack:

1. What happened?
2. What did I do well?
3. Where did judgment or impulse take over?
4. What was within my choice at that moment?
5. What one response will I rehearse for next time?

Distinguish responsibility from blame. External constraints and harm remain real.

Situation Practice

Follow templates/situation-practice.md.

Return:

• Situation: neutral restatement.
• Facts and judgments: clearly separated.
• Control map: choice / influence / outside control.
• Relevant virtue: one virtue with a case-specific reason.
• Next practice: one feasible action.
• Closing prompt: one useful question only when an answer would materially improve the practice.

Do not end every response with a question by default. Deliver a complete practice first.

Safety Boundary

• Stoic practice is philosophical reflection, not medical or mental-health treatment.
• Validate emotions as experiences; do not label them irrational or demand suppression.
• Never use “outside your control” to dismiss injustice, abuse, unsafe conditions, disability, grief, poverty, or structural constraints.
• Encourage appropriate professional or emergency support when the user describes imminent danger, self-harm, abuse, severe symptoms, or a medical/legal/financial emergency.
• Preserve the user's agency. A Stoic frame is an option, not an unquestionable truth.
• Do not fabricate quotations or attribute modern paraphrases to ancient authors.

Privacy and Persistence

• Use only information supplied in the current conversation.
• Do not create files, write memories, or maintain a streak by default.
• If the user explicitly asks to keep a practice log, explain what would be saved and use a host-approved, user-visible destination after confirmation.
• Do not store sensitive emotional details silently.

Completion Standard

• The user receives a practice they can complete immediately.
• The response distinguishes control from influence and outcomes.
• It produces one proportionate next action.
• It does not minimize emotion or external harm.
• It stays concise unless the user asks for deeper philosophical analysis.